When Wesley Seale Dam on Lake Corpus Christi was dedicated in 1958 more than 6,000 people attended, and enjoyed 9,000 lbs of South Texas barbecue.
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Lake Corpus Christi filled quickly earlier this month as water from the upper Nueces River flowed into the reservoir at a rate of 10,500 cubic feet per second for several days.(Photo: DAVID SIKES/CALLER-TIMES)Buy Photo

City officials in Beeville want answers from the city of Corpus Christi.

Eighteen cities and communities, including the Beeville Water Supply District, buy water from the Corpus Christi water system in a deal set forth more than 35 years ago.

Starting in 2011, when Corpus Christi added a 5 cent surcharge to Beeville's water bill, officials began questioning where the extra money was going.

Beeville estimates it has paid $500,000 in surcharges since 2011, according to a petition filed to the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

"There was no notice. It was just added to the bill," said Jack Hamlett, Beeville's interim city manager. "We have had discussions with the city of Corpus Christi to find out accountability for our funds and how they have been implemented, and we haven't been able to get an adequate response."

In October, Beeville received a notice of rate changes for water and wastewater customers outside Corpus Christi city limits that would start Jan. 1.

The raw water rate is $0.974 per 1,000 gallons for rate-paying customers, and $1.001 for contract customers. The new rates include the 5 cent surcharge, called the "raw water system development charge."

On Jan. 3, Beeville and its water supply district filed an appeal petition with the Public Utility Commission of Texas that seeks an order setting its rate not exceeding $0.60 per thousand gallons or "potentially substantially less than that rate."

Dan Grimsbo, Corpus Christi's executive director of water utilities, said the city has seen a news release on Beeville's petition, but it has not received it.

"We are looking into it," Grimsbo said.

The petition claims the 5 cent surcharge was related to the water supply pipelines, Mary Rhodes Pipeline Phase I and II, and that Beeville did not agree to pay it.

In addition to an order for a lower rate, Beeville wants to recover costs from the years of the 5 cent surcharge that the petition said the city was not obligated to pay under the original contract.

Corpus Christi holds the water rights with Nueces River Authority to water in Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir. The city has four water sources to service more than 500,000 people in Rockport, Three Rivers, Kingsville, Port Aransas, Beeville and Mathis.

Completion of the second phase of the Rhodes pipeline in 2016 laid the groundwork for 35,000 acre-feet — or 11.4 billion gallons — of water per year to the city's water system. The project placed 42 miles of infrastructure from the Colorado River near Bay City to Lake Texana.

Beeville officials felt like they had no choice but to take an aggressive approach to get answers, which is why they filed the petition, Hamlett said.

"Our hope is that we can be able to justify the rates to what the actual costs should be for water purchasing from the city of Corpus Christi, and that they would honor the existing contract approved in the 1980s," Hamlett said.

Beeville does not have any other options for water at this time, he said.